Apparatus and method for applying in an automatic way foam elements on a die cutter

An apparatus (1) for automatically applying ejection rubber elements (7) on a die-cutter (4), comprising a manipulator (5) equipped with a needle gripper (6),

• wherein the gripper (6) in turn comprises:
• a front surface (14),
• a plurality of needles (15) movable with respect to the front surface (14) between an extracted position, at which the needles (15) cantileverly extend from the front surface (14) to penetrate into an ejection rubber element (7) to be withdrawn, and a retracted position, at which the needles (15) remain flush with the front surface (14) to disengage the ejection rubber element (7) released on a die-cutter (4),
• characterized in that the needles (15) can be stopped at an intermediate position in-between the extracted position and the retracted position, to lay down the ejection rubber element (7) against the front surface (14), without disengaging the ejection rubber element (14);
• the apparatus (1) further comprising a programmable control unit and an optical recognition station (8) equipped with capturing and processing means (10) to capture and process images, and wherein the control unit is programmed for:
• a) aligning the withdrawn ejection rubber element (7) with the front surface (14),
• b) placing the withdrawn ejection rubber element (7) at the optical recognition station (8) and capturing an image thereof,
• c) comparing the captured image of each ejection rubber element (7) withdrawn by the needles (15) with images from a virtual library of templates of ejection rubber elements (7) in order to identify the corresponding template, and/or with an image created by software and depicting the template of the ejection rubber element properly centered and oriented, and/or processing the image to take measurements of the withdrawn ejection rubber element (7), and d) based on said comparison and/or said processing, controlling the movement of the manipulator and placing the ejection rubber element (7) on the die-cutter (4), next to the corresponding portion of either a cutting rule (7′) or a creasing rule (7′) of the die-cutter (4).